Joe: you're correct to mention Walter Huston. I wonder if he was the first screen actor to play Lincoln?

Bill,

I am not sure if anyone portrayed Lincoln in any of Edison's early films. As far as I now the first actor to portray him was Joseph Henabery in D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915). Charles Middleton (aka Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon serials), portrayed Lincoln in several shorts made during the 1930s. He also portrayed Thomas Lincoln in the opening scenes of Abe Lincoln in Illinois.

Bill,

A person named Mark S. Reinhart has a book called Abraham Lincoln on Screen, which is one of the few Lincoln books I don't own. It has just about every known portrayal of Lincoln on screen. If I remember correctly (Roger, help me out here), I think Mark was a poster on the old ALO mailbag.

I would think one of the earlier portrayals of Lincoln would have been in The Birth of a Nation because there is a scene on the assassination, but I don't think it would be the first. Seems to me there was a really old movie that showed an actor playing Lincoln on screen.

Joe, looks like we posted at the same time.

Best
Rob

Great minds think alike...or is that too much hubris?!

Sounds good to me.

Best
Rob

Rob, my mind is a blank on Mr. Reinhart.

Gene sent this photo of Gregory Peck as Lincoln. Thanks, Gene!

I had forgotten that Mr. Peck was a very effective Lincoln in that mini-series, which I loved, accuracy or not.

Wow_ Peck did make for an effective looking Lincoln! Nice picture!

Some people have said,"You have to look the part-To play the part"! That picture of Peck does say,1000 words!

I believe that Mark Reinhart worked with Richard Sloan (who should be a member of this forum if he's not already) in acquiring information for his book on Lincoln in the movies. That has been one of Richard's special hobbies ever since I have known him (forty years).

I've never been thoroughly satisfied with any Hollywood movie about Lincoln. I though D. W. Griffith's "Abraham Lincoln" (1930) was awful! I was very disappointed because Walter Huston was such a great actor but I thought he was terrible in this movie! There are many historical inaccuracies in it. Anyway, I would never have trusted D. W. Griffith to portray Lincoln accurately (cf "The Birth of a Nation"!!). I think Holbrook and Massey are the best actors. Gregory Peck, although a great actor, was too handsome. Hollywood seems to want to depict the mythic Lincoln and not the historic Lincoln. I"m hoping that Spielberg's "Lincoln" and the portrayal by Daniel Day-Lewis, who is an incredible actor, will finally give Lincoln his due. I thought that the casting of Sally Fields as Mary was genius.

I am excited about the casting of Sally Fields as Mary Lincoln also. I just see her nailing that role.

I am frankly surprised at the hostility toward Henry Fonda's portrayal of AL in Young Mr. Lincoln." This is widely regarded by film buffs,most of whom know little about Lincoln,as the best film about Lincoln. Of course the requirements of film drama often clash violently with actual history.

I think Fonda wonderfully captured Llincoln's unique combination of melancholy and humor. While Fonda seemed cognitively challenged to one critic, this reminded me of David Herbert Donald telling us how Lincoln ruminated slowly and deeply upon problems until he came up with a solution.

John Ford,who directed "Young Mr. Lincoln" made up many tall tales about his life and work. One involved a contemplated scene in "YML' in which Lincoln walked past a Springfield theatre which had a poster advertising a performance by John Wilkes Booth

Tom

I finished watching the movie the other night, Tom, and quite honestly my original opinion was reinforced. I simply didn't believe him as Lincoln.

Best
Rob

I was searching Google Books for material on William Seward when I came across Abraham Lincoln On Screen: Fictional and Documentary Portrayals on Film and Television 1903-1998 by Mark S. Reinhart.

http://books.google.com/books?ei=4wkhUMK...rch_anchor

The second revised edition was published March 2012.

http://www.amazon.com/Abraham-Lincoln-Sc...+on+screen